Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
The Blessedness of Answered Prayer
A Psalm. A Song (A)at the dedication of the house of David.
30 I will extol You, O Lord, for You have (B)lifted me up,
And have not let my foes (C)rejoice over me.
2 O Lord my God, I cried out to You,
And You (D)healed me.
3 O Lord, (E)You brought my soul up from the grave;
You have kept me alive, [a]that I should not go down to the pit.
4 (F)Sing praise to the Lord, you saints of His,
And give thanks at the remembrance of [b]His holy name.
5 For (G)His anger is but for a moment,
(H)His favor is for life;
Weeping may endure for a night,
But [c]joy comes in the morning.
6 Now in my prosperity I said,
“I shall never be [d]moved.”
7 Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong;
(I)You hid Your face, and I was troubled.
8 I cried out to You, O Lord;
And to the Lord I made supplication:
9 “What profit is there in my blood,
When I go down to the pit?
(J)Will the dust praise You?
Will it declare Your truth?
10 Hear, O Lord, and have mercy on me;
Lord, be my helper!”
16 “For these things I weep;
My eye, (A)my eye overflows with water;
Because the comforter, who should restore my life,
Is far from me.
My children are desolate
Because the enemy prevailed.”
17 (B)Zion [a]spreads out her hands,
But no one comforts her;
The Lord has commanded concerning Jacob
That those (C)around him become his adversaries;
Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.
18 “The Lord is (D)righteous,
For I (E)rebelled against His [b]commandment.
Hear now, all peoples,
And behold my sorrow;
My virgins and my young men
Have gone into captivity.
19 “I called for my lovers,
But they deceived me;
My priests and my elders
Breathed their last in the city,
While they sought food
To restore their life.
20 “See, O Lord, that I am in distress;
My (F)soul[c] is troubled;
My heart is overturned within me,
For I have been very rebellious.
(G)Outside the sword bereaves,
At home it is like death.
21 “They have heard that I sigh,
But no one comforts me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
They are (H)glad that You have done it.
Bring on (I)the day You have [d]announced,
That they may become like me.
22 “Let(J) all their wickedness come before You,
And do to them as You have done to me
For all my transgressions;
For my sighs are many,
And my heart is faint.”
The Corinthians’ Repentance
2 Open your hearts to us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, (A)we have cheated no one. 3 I do not say this to condemn; for (B)I have said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together. 4 (C)Great is my boldness of speech toward you, (D)great is my boasting on your behalf. (E)I am filled with comfort. I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation.
5 For indeed, (F)when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but (G)we were troubled on every side. (H)Outside were conflicts, inside were fears. 6 Nevertheless (I)God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by (J)the coming of Titus, 7 and not only by his coming, but also by the [a]consolation with which he was comforted in you, when he told us of your earnest desire, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more.
8 For even if I made you (K)sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; (L)though I did regret it. For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. 9 Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. 10 For (M)godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; (N)but the sorrow of the world produces death. 11 For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what (O)clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be (P)clear in this matter. 12 Therefore, although I wrote to you, I did not do it for the sake of him who had done the wrong, nor for the sake of him who suffered wrong, (Q)but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear to you.
The Joy of Titus
13 Therefore we have been comforted in your comfort. And we rejoiced exceedingly more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit (R)has been refreshed by you all. 14 For if in anything I have boasted to him about you, I am not ashamed. But as we spoke all things to you in truth, even so our boasting to Titus was found true. 15 And his affections are greater for you as he remembers (S)the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling you received him. 16 Therefore I rejoice that (T)I have confidence in you in everything.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.